File-binder.



No Model.)

B. S. BOWMAN.

FILE BINDER.

(Application filed Apr. 13, 1899.

" raw Xi'an Patented Aug. l, 1899.

UNtTn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CYRUS S. liOlVMAN, OF NElVTON, KANSAS.

FILE-BINDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 630,172, dated August 1, 1899.

Application filed April 13, 1899. Serial No. 712,924. (No model.)

To (ti/Z whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that LCYRUS S.BOWMAN,a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Harvey and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in File-Binders; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The objectis in a ready, simple, thoroughly efficient, and safe manner to effect the securing together of letters, pamphlets, &c., the mode of assemblage being such as to permit easy inspection of any letter of a file when desired, and, if necessary, to allow expeditious separation of one or more letters from a file withoutinterfering with or disturbing the order of arrangement of the remaining ones.

With this object in view the invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts of a file-binder, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like letters ofreferenceindicate correspondingparts, I have illustrated an embodiment of my invention, it being understood that other forms of embodiment thereof may be employed without departing from the spirit of the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective displaying a file made up and secured together by the file-binder characterized by thisinvention. Fig. 2 isa view in perspective of the binder, showing the manner of its construction. Fig. 3 is a View in transverse section taken on the line 3 3, Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the body of the binder, the same consisting of a strip of any suitable material, preferably of leather, and provided along its length with a plurality of openings Ct of such size as to permit passage of a double thickness of the binding-cord A but not more. At or near one end of the body, and preferably at a corner, is secured a cord-fastening device a in the nature of a clamp or cleat, for holding securely in place the free end of the cord or tape A upon which the letters, &c., are strung. In the present instance the device a is a spring clamp 0r clasp formed by two or more coils of wire, the respective ends of which are passed through the body and are suitably clenched, or otherwise secured in place, but it is to be understood that I do not ing device, as other forms suited to the purpose may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The cord or tape A may be of any material suited to the purpose and is provided at one end with a pointed metallic puncturing-tip a and at the other end with a tubular tip a, constituting a filing-tip. The tip a is constructed in such manner that in passing through paper it will make an opening larger than the cord, so that when a letter is to be separated from a file there will be no obstruction offered to its removal, as from the buttend of the tip, where a slight shoulder is presented at its point of connection with the cord. This advantageous result is effected by bulging or enlarging the tip between its extremes, the bulge or enlargement being formed either by including more metal at this pointor by simply forming the tip in this shape in making. The tip may be made of a solid piece of metal or of any other material suited to the purpose, having a bore at its larger end for the reception of the cord, or it may be made of a piece of sheet metal rolled or pressed to the required shape. The tubular tip a is,-in cross-section, preferably of the same diameter as the largest part. of the tip a and is left hollow-that is to say, the cord is terminated some distance short of the end, in order that the tip may be fitted over the pointed end of the tip a when it is desired to remove a particular letter or paper from the file without disturbing the order of arrangement of those separated.

In connection with the cord and as a means for holding the same from slipping or being drawn through the body when one end of the cord is drawn upon, as when in pulling on the cord to effect close assemblage of the papers prior to securing the cord in the clamp (1 a cord-grip a is employed, which, as shown in Fig. 2 in perspective and in Fig. 3 in section, is a dished metallic disk provided with two openings a for the passage of the cord A limit myself to this particular form of fastenslipped past the cord-grip without meeting with any obstruction therefrom. As before mentioned, the opeuingsa are of such size as to admit only two thicknesses of the cord, and as the openings in the cord-gri p are separated it follows that the two members of the cord confined between the body A and the inner or dish-shaped side of'thedisk will be crowded in such manner as to present a wedge-shaped loop, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, so that any attempt to draw out one end of the cord when the disk is closely hugging the back of the body will operate to bind the two members of the cord in the opening of the body, and thus lock the cord against movement. When, however, itvis necessary to lengthen or to shortenth'e puncturing-tip-carrying member of the cord, it will only be necessary to draw the disk away from the body A, thereby leavingthe cord held only by the slight friction presented by the walls of the opening a, through which the cord is passed.

When it is desiredtoseparate a letter from thefile-say one somewhat removed from the top-the filing-tip a is employed to prevent derangement in the orderof the letters to be removed to reach the desired one. In use the @tip a is placed over the pointed end of the tip a The letters are then slipped onto the shank of the tip a and when the desired letter for separation is reached the tip a is removed from-the tip (1, with'the letters strung on it. The manner in which the letters are replaced upon the cord is obvious and therefore need not be described.

It is to be understood thatthe binder herein described constitutes in itself an article-of manufacture and is entirely independent of any cover, although one may be employed,

and when such cover is used it is held in position between the cord-grip and the body of the binder. When a cover is employed in connection with the binder, the former is free from the binder-that is to say, the binder is in no way dependent upon a coverin the performance'of its functions.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A file-binder comprising a flexible body portion provided with a plurality of openings, and carryingafastening device,a dished cordgri-p provided with two openings, and a cord having its two members passed through the two openings in the cord-grip and'through a single opening in the body portion, substantially as described.

2. A file-binder comprising a flexible body portion provided with a plurality of openings and carrying afastenin g device,a dished cordgrip provided with two openings, a cord having its two members passed through the two openings in the cord-grip and through a single opening in the body portion, and a puncturing-tip carried by one member of the cord, substantially as described.

3. A file-binder comprising a flexible bodyportion provided with a plurality of openings and carrying a spring fastening device a dished cord-grip provided with two'openings,

a cord having its two members passed through the openings in the cord-gripand through a single opening in the body portion, and a puncturing-tip carried by one member of the cord, the tip being of greaterdiameter,intermediate of its ends, than the cord, substantially as described.

4. A file-binder comprising a flexible body portion provided with a plurality of openings and. carrying a spring fastening device, a dished cord-grip provided with two openings, a cord having its two members passed through the openings in the cord-grip and through a single opening in the body portion, a pun-cturing-tip carried by one member of thecord, the tip being of greater diameter, intermediate of its ends, than the cord, and a tubular filing-tip carried by the'other member of the cord, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CYRUS 'S. BOWMAN.

Witnesses:

R. M. ELLIOTT, E. H. PARRY. 

